Eavesdropper's Answers: Part One

Yasha shouldered her backpack, waved goodbye to her friends,
and started the walk home. It was just the sort of day that was perfect for walking
- almost made for it. The sky was clear and bright; the air was warm and scented
with the smell of lilacs.

The yellow Cybunny sauntered down the sidewalk,
nodding to those she knew. It couldn't have been a better day.

She climbed the steps to her front door and was
about to open it when she heard voices.

"...can't do that. She's too young for it..."

"...have to stop babying her... old enough to
handle the truth..."

"...dare you show up at my home and tell me what
to do? ...lost your claim ages ago."

Yasha stepped into the shrubbery just in time,
for the door opened and a tall boy walked out. She ducked a little lower as
he turned back to face her mother.

"I will see her eventually. She's partly mine,
and you can't keep her away forever."

"Just leave!" her mother yelled. "You don't have
the right! I raised her, and I intend to keep her as far away from you as possible."

The boy laughed - a horrible, low, rumbly sound.
"Just you try."

And he left. He tucked his hands in his pockets
and walked down the street, where he turned a corner and vanished.

Still hidden, Yasha watched her mother as she
gazed after the boy. Stifling a sob, she looked out across the neighborhood
and withdrew into the house, shutting the door behind her.

Yasha clasped her paws across her mouth, trying
to slow her breathing. Who did that boy have a claim on? It had to be her sister,
Sorrel. She was pretty, she was smart, and she was a faerie Pteri. But how could
someone else partly own her sister?

Judging that sufficient time had passed, she
took a deep breath and crept out of the shrubs, opening the front door. Glancing
around, she could see no one.

She flitted up the stairs like a wraith, and
found solitude in her room. Yasha threw her backpack in the corner and flopped
down on her bed. Minda, her Airax, flitted up onto the bed and cocked her head
to the side.

"Minda?" The petpet squawked. "You are so lucky
you don't know who your parents are."

A knock sounded on the door. "Yasha? Can I come
in?"

"I suppose."

Mom opened the door and sat down on Yasha's bed.
"Honey, I got some news."

Yasha interrupted, "I know what you're going
to say. Last time you said that, we had to move here, to Neopia Central. The
time before that, it was Mystery Island. And the time before that it was Tyrannia."
She sighed. "Where is it now?"

Mom cradled her chin in her hands, looking thoughtful.
"To be honest, I've run out of ideas. Any particular place you'd like?"

"Mom. We just got settled here. Why do we have
to move? And why have you not even decided where?"

"I can't tell you that. We just have to go, that's
all. Sorrel says she'd love Faerieland. I thought you might prefer Terror Mountain,
but I thought I'd ask your opinion before we picked."

"It has something to do with that boy, doesn't
it."

Mom froze.

"Yeah, Mom, I know all about the boy. The one
who came here just a little while ago. The one you yelled across the neighborhood
at."

"Where... where were you?"

Yasha laughed. "In the shrubs. Right beside you."

Mom flared up. "How dare you eavesdrop! When
I'm having a private conversation, you are not to listen in!"

"When you're yelling, and it involves Sorrel,
I have every right to listen! Sorrel's future has everything to do with me!"

"Sorrel has nothing to do with that boy!"

"Quit denying it, Mom. If he has a claim on Sorrel,
I want to know why!"

She left and shut the door behind her. Yasha
just sat there, the wind taken out of her sails. And then her back started to
hurt, so she fell backwards onto the bed. Fishing her journal out from under
her pillow, she grabbed a pen and prepared to write. Only problem was, words
wouldn't come.

Yasha groaned and shoved the notebook under the
bed. Vaulting off the bed, she flew across the hall and into Sorrel's room.

Her sister looked up from her book and greeted
her with a smile. "Hey, what's up? And what was the yelling about?"

"Sorrel, I need your help."

"Sure. With what?"

"I need to find adoption records. Where might
those be?"

Sorrel scratched her head with the tip of one
wing. "Probably in the library, if we asked politely."

"Well, then, grab your bag and let's go."

* * * *

"... and so you see, we would love to have a
look at those records."

The assistant librarian glanced back and forth
between them. "A school project?"

"The likelihood of certain age groups adopting
different species of pets, and certain age groups having influence over the
names that are chosen for the adopted pets," Yasha supplied.

"I suppose I could do that. You realize that
not everyone has access to these records. And you'll need to sign some forms.
There are old documents, and they need to be kept in good condition. We need
to know that you'll be responsible enough to take care of them. These are important
papers, after all."

"And, of course, you'll need to sign a parental
consent form, and get a note from your teacher, complete with signature, to
state that you are, indeed, doing a school project."

The sisters looked at each other, and looked
back at the assistant librarian. "I suppose we could manage. Could we get the
forms we need?"

The librarian handed them a stack of papers with
a smile, and turned back to his work.

Outside, Sorrel glanced through the papers. "Well,
Mom should gladly give her consent for these forms. And your teacher will sign
these quite readily, I imagine. Quite a fascinating project you're doing, actually."

"Sorrel, you're so dense! It's not a school project.
I just need to have a look at those records!"

"Well, then. That could be a problem."

Yasha rolled her eyes. "No kidding."

"Why do you want to look at those records, anyways?"
Sorrel queried.

"It seems that my past has a whole lot to do
with my future. I have to find out under what circumstances I was born."

Sorrel laughed. "Oh. Well, if that's all you
need it for..." She grabbed the documents and a pen, and scrawled names on the
dotted lines.

"What are you doing?"

"Forging Mom's signature, and your teacher's
too. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"But you can't just forge signatures like that!
We could get in a lot of trouble!" Yasha hissed.

"True. But that librarian probably won't check
up on any of these signatures. You're perfectly safe."

* * * *

"Here are the records from Y1, all the way through
to Y4. Y5 to Y8 are in that box over there," the librarian huffed. He dropped
a box of books on the table in front of Yasha, a cloud of dust rising as she
did so.

Yasha coughed out a thank-you, and the librarian
left. Sorrel peered into one of the boxes and took out a heavy tome.

"Well, you were born about a year after me. So
you're probably in the Y7 book."

"I know what year I was born in, Sorrel."

"No need to get huffy with me," Sorrel replied
mildly.

Yasha ignored her and flipped through the book.
"I have no idea how to navigate through this thing. There's, like, five or six
columns on each page."

Sorrel glanced at the pages, though for a moment,
and grinned. "First column is date. Second column is location. Third column
is neighborhood. Fourth is username. Fifth is the pet name. And sixth is the
pet species."

Yasha blinked in disbelief. "These people made
way too much work for themselves."

"They were just being organized. Do you know
where you were born?"

"Mom told me it was Lost Desert, but I don't
know whether or not that's true."

"Well, we do know the date. So we can easily
figure out where you were born, and to whom."

Sorrel lifted a large section of the book and
flipped it over. Scanning the yellowed pages, she flipped a few more times and
pointed with the tip of her wing to a line.